@Gid - Thanks for suggestions. I may have answered my own query here...

Went nuts adding color corrector and color balance fx and adjusting on the fly, stacked two of the events so I could mask one so that the hues are closer to the warm tones of center of the chorus flyover footage - and the sides closer to the cooler ones, then a we bit of gaussian on both.

Not perfect but probably usable. It's for my tiny original 1080p compositions YouTube channel, so not pretending to make broadcast quality stuff.

@Soniclight-2.0 Yeah, a 1000 different ways to achieve a 1000 different looks, it's all in the eye of the beholder.
PS. Just in case you didn't know you can save the fx chain or save it as a LUT for future use with the grey fx+ button at the end of the fx chain . .

@Soniclight-2.0 Yeah, a 1000 different ways to achieve a 1000 different looks, it's all in the eye of the beholder.
PS. Just in case you didn't know you can save the fx chain or save it as a LUT for future use with the grey fx+ button at the end of the fx chain . .

True. Forgot about this and so I did this monster chain for each layer since the results are fairly decent.

LUTs are totally new to me - what is the difference in application - mainly post production on main track or ?

LUTs are totally new to me - what is the difference in application - mainly post production on main track or ?

@Soniclight-2.0 I don't really know enough to comment without quoting Google 😂

Again Just in case you didn't know 😉 - Click the grey fx+, Save as LUT, choose destination/folder.

In VP LUT Filter, Browse - find LUT in your folder, copy name of LUT & save as Preset, it'll then show in the LUT Filter thumbnails.

https://help.magix-hub.com/video/vegas/22/en/content/search.htm?q=LUT%20Filter

@Gid - Thanks, I'll try to digest this but at age 71, my concentration/cognitive skills to learn new stuff can be a bit challenging. But hopefully I can get the gist of it. Eventually. 🙃

FXHome HitFilm Pro used to have years ago a great YouTube video about color grading and using LUTs, but it doesn't seem to be on FXHome's YT channel anymore (while FXHome completely closed down a year ago, their YT channel still exists). Anyway, the YT video outlined that there are two types of LUTs:

1. A technical LUT. This is where a camera uses a LOG format or a manufacturer's proprietary color space when recording and the LUT provides a color grade from the camera's typically flat and grey image to a more 'real world' coloured image in the NLE. An example of this is shown from 00:24 in another HitFilm tutorial:

2. A creative LUT. This is where a LUT provides a "look" to the image/sequence/project. The "look" could be that used in a particular TV series or feature film - or just a generic look for a theme like sci-fi, film noir, aged film, etc - and there are many of these LUTs available free or for a cost on the internet. Vegas has many look LUTs under the 'Look LUT' tab in the Color Grade Panel. Or the editor can create and save their own custom LUT as Gid has suggested.

In the HitFilm tutorial that I couldn't locate, I recall that the advice about using creative LUTs was to color grade first (i.e. all the basic color grading tasks) and then add the LUT last to provide the "look".

@Dexcon - Thanks, that brings some clarity. I suppose one example of this when the more "noir" type films tend to veer towards cooler blues and greens in the overall look. To match the emotional ethos - it's not a happy-go-lucky Disney look. 😎

I use Hub stock and unfortunately a lot of footage is already pre-colored such as the green-leaning one at issue here but that I more or less fixed. If one has a whole bunch of clips that all have different leanings - from almost monochrome to full spectrum color, it's hard to standardize them to all have the same look.

My guess is that applying a one-size-fits-all LUT alone -- as with a saved chain of fx - cannot fix that, so one has to go in on every clip and adjust by eye.

Or maybe Vegas now has some AI script or plugin that can do something like this, or not. I'm way behind the curve in terms of AI assisted editing (I know nothing, really). And I do simple short stuff for my music compositions that never go over 6 minutes or so.

This is what I get just using the Colour Match effect:

@MikeS - Ah, never used that plugin, so thanks for the tip. For anyone who wants to see the fastest way to do it, here is a short how-to-video.

LUTs are a good, but not very flexible way, of saving your fx. fx chains preserve the original fx in a non-destructive way, so you can go back and tweak parameters of those fx later and have the results you are after. a LUT "bakes" all of your settings into one list of instructions that the color grading system uses to apply the "look" of all of those FX to your footage. Great if you want to quickly share your look with someone who doesn't need to adjust it from there, especially if they use another editing app, as LUTs are cross compatible with many different apps and even cameras allow you to load them into them now so you can see how it looks while shooting... but they are static, you cannot go back and tweak the individual settings that were used to create that look afterwards. You can apply more FX on top of a LUT, but the changes the LUT applies remain static in the FX chain.

@fr0sty - Well, I had a kind old-man's-brain-freeze when trying to understand the application of LUT, so will stick to fx chain saves. Though I have old ones going back to Vegas 10 or 8 that I really should nuke - they were so project specific that they probably look like really weird now... :)